Method for making electrode
The present invention provides a method for making an electrode. Firstly, a conducting substrate is provided. Secondly, a plurality of nano-sized structures is formed on the conducting substrate by a nano-imprinting method. Thirdly, a coating is formed on the nano-sized structures. The nano-sized structures are configured for increasing specific surface area of the electrode.
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This application is a divisional application of and claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/391,993 filed Mar. 28, 2006 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,812,450, entitled “ELECTRODE AND METHOD FOR MAKING THE SAME”, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND1. Technical Field
The invention relates generally to methods for making electrodes, more particularly, to a method for making an electrode having a high specific surface area thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, demand has been growing for more compact and thin electronic equipment, thus capacitors and batteries used in electronic equipment are also required to be thin whilst also providing high capacitance. For example, in a non-contact IC card, the thickness thereof is as thin as 1 mm or less, so the thickness of the capacitors included therein should be several hundred microns or less.
A parallel plate capacitor is one kind of conventional charge storage device. The basic design of these capacitors involves two conductive electrodes separated by a dielectric or insulative thin film material. To provide increased capacitance, one or both electrodes of the storage capacitors can be formed with a roughened surface, such as that which is provided by hemispherical grained (HSG) polysilicon, so as to increase the area over that which is provided by electrodes having planar surfaces. Other methods of providing increased capacitance involve using an insulating material having an increased dielectric constant and reducing the thickness of the dielectric insulating layer so as to reduce the distance between the electrodes.
While many variations of this type of capacitor have been developed, all of the known designs suffer from many disadvantages, having complicated structures, high construction costs and poor surface quality. Furthermore, mechanical strength becomes poorer as the capacitor becomes thinner.
What is needed, therefore, is an electrode having high capacitance and simple structure, and a method for making the electrode.
Many aspects of the present electrode and method can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present electrode and method.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. The exemplifications set out herein illustrate at least one preferred embodiment of the present invention, in one form, and such exemplifications are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner.
DETAILED DESCRIPTIONReference will now be made to the drawings to describe embodiments of the present electrode and the method for making the same, in detail.
Referring to
The nano-sized structures 13 are convex-shaped. A size of each nano-sized structure is in the range from 2 nanometers to 50 nanometers. The size of each nano-sized structure is generally in the range from 10 nanometers to 40 nanometers. The nano-sized structures 13 are configured for increasing a specific surface area of the electrode 10.
The coating 15 is formed on the nano-sized structures 13. The coating 15 is comprised of carbon nanotubes and nano-sized particles. The nano-sized particles are selected from the group consisting of indium tin oxide, chromium oxide (CrOx), cobalt oxide (CoOx), nickel oxide (NiOx), ferric oxide (FeOy), aluminum oxide, zinc oxide (ZnOx), silica oxide, titanium oxide and zirconium oxide (ZrOx), wherein x is in the range from 1 to 2; and y is in the range from 1 to 1.5. A thickness of the coating 15 is in a range from 1 nanometer to 20 nanometers. Preferably, the thickness of the coating 15 is in a range from 2 nanometers to 10 nm.
Referring to
In another embodiment, a method for making above-described electrode 10 includes the following steps in no particular order of:
-
- providing a conducting substrate;
- forming a number of nano-sized structures on the conducting substrate;
- forming a coating on the nano-sized structures, wherein the nano-sized structures are configured for increasing a specific surface area of the electrode.
Referring
Also referring to
Referring to
The conventional capacitors are regular oxide materials with flat surfaces and have limited capacity for electrical charges. The present invention uses nano-sized structures and a coating to increase specific surface area, so that the present electrode can store much more electrical charge.
Finally, it is to be understood that the above-described embodiments are intended to illustrate rather than limit the invention. Variations may be made to the embodiments without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed. The above-described embodiments illustrate the scope of the invention but do not restrict the scope of the invention.
Claims
1. A method for making an electrode, comprising:
- providing a conducting substrate;
- forming a plurality of concave-shaped nano-sized structures on the conducting substrate by applying an imprinting mold directly on a major surface of the conducting substrate; and
- forming a coating directly on both the nano-sized structures and portions of the major surface of the conducting substrate between the nano-sized structures; the nano-sized structures being configured for increasing specific surface area of the electrode.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the conducting substrate is comprised of a material selected from the group consisting of graphite, lithium, aluminum, copper, silver, nickel, tungsten, molybdenum and any combination alloy thereof.
3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the coating is formed on the nano-sized structures by a deposition method.
4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the coating is selected from the group consisting of carbon nanotubes and nano-sized particles.
5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the nano-sized particles are selected from the group consisting of indium tin oxide, chromium oxide, cobalt oxide, nickel oxide, ferric oxide, aluminum oxide, zinc oxide, silica oxide, titanium oxide and zirconium oxide.
6. A method for making an electrode, comprising:
- providing a conducting substrate;
- forming a plurality of nano-sized structures on the conducting substrate by a nano-imprinting method; and
- forming a coating on the nano-sized structures; the nano-sized structures being configured for increasing specific surface area of the electrode.
7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the conducting substrate is comprised of a material selected from the group consisting of graphite, lithium, aluminum, copper, silver, nickel, tungsten, molybdenum and any combination alloy thereof.
8. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the nano-sized structures are concave-shaped.
9. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the nano-sized structures are convex-shaped.
10. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the coating is formed on the nano-sized structures by a deposition method.
11. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the coating is selected from the group consisting of carbon nanotubes and nano-sized particles.
12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the nano-sized particles are selected from the group consisting of indium tin oxide, chromium oxide, cobalt oxide, nickel oxide, ferric oxide, aluminum oxide, zinc oxide, silica oxide, titanium oxide and zirconium oxide.
13. A method for making an electrode, comprising:
- providing a conducting substrate;
- nano-imprinting a major surface of the conducting substrate using an imprinting mold to obtain a plurality of nano-sized structures integrally formed on the major surface of the conducting substrate; and
- forming a coating on the nano-sized structures; the nano-sized structures being configured for increasing specific surface area of the electrode, the coating being selected from the group consisting of carbon nanotubes and nano-sized particles.
14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the nano-sized particles are selected from the group consisting of indium tin oxide, chromium oxide, cobalt oxide, nickel oxide, ferric oxide, aluminum oxide, zinc oxide, silica oxide, titanium oxide and zirconium oxide.
15. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the conducting substrate is comprised of a material selected from the group consisting of graphite, lithium, aluminum, copper, silver, nickel, tungsten, molybdenum and any combination alloy thereof.
16. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the nano-sized structures are concave-shaped.
17. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the nano-sized structures are convex-shaped.
18. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the coating is formed on the nano-sized structures by a deposition method.
19. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the coating is directly formed on both the nano-sized structures and portions of the major surface between adjacent nano-sized structures.
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Type: Grant
Filed: Jun 1, 2009
Date of Patent: Dec 20, 2011
Patent Publication Number: 20090238953
Assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. (Tu-Cheng, New Taipei)
Inventor: Ga-Lane Chen (Santa Clara, CA)
Primary Examiner: Matthew Smith
Assistant Examiner: John M Parker
Attorney: Raymond J. Chew
Application Number: 12/476,241
International Classification: H01L 21/44 (20060101);